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Somber Day for PR One Year After Hurricane Maria

One year ago on Thursday Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria. Now homes have been rebuilt and roads repaved, but many survivors are still struggling to recover. Gaby Acevedo, Darlene Rodriguez and Ray Villeda report.

(Published Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018)

On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico wreaking havoc across its terrain to such great proportions that very few storms throughout United States history provoked the level of widespread destruction and disorganization experienced during and in the aftermath of Maria.

So severe was the impact of the massive storm that the island incurred roughly $100 billion in damages and the effects are still being felt a year later.

From its inception, Maria was poised to bring a worst possible scenario to the island. The Category 4 storm made a direct hit on Puerto Rico, bringing along with it torrential rains and devastating winds that lashed the island.

The chaos during the storm was seemingly matched by the disarray following it.

In the wake of the hurricane, residents of the island saw themselves having to clean up the damage left behind, wade through high flood waters, face a lack of clean water and spend almost a year dealing with unreliable access to electricity.

Weeks after Maria had made landfall, residents were still struggling with obtaining access to clean water.

Not only were the basic necessities difficult to come by in the weeks after the storm, but the power grid across the entire island was destroyed by the hurricane, leaving millions of residents without electricity.

The government-owned electric power company in Puerto Rico announced Aug. 14, 2018 that it officially restored electricity to the island.

According to a tweet by the Puerto Rico Power Authority, or Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) as it is known is Spanish, the utility restored power to its final client in Bo Real Anon in the municipality of Ponce.

This final power restoration marked an uphill climb for residents of the island, who faced the longest recorded power outage in United States history.

The island’s terrain also contributed to delaying the efforts, since at times it was difficult for workers to access downed wires due to a mountainous territory.

The AEE also saw company turmoil — struggling through bankruptcy (that started prior to the hurricane) while going through three different CEOs in the span of two weeks during the summer.

The overall disorder related to the storm was so severe that a recent study revealed the extent of how unprepared, not only the island was, but the U.S. mainland was in addressing the storm.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said 54 percent of federal emergency personnel were not qualified to do the rescue work in October 2017. The report also states there were logistical challenges due to the location of Puerto Rico and the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands, and added that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had to assume many of the local government's responsibilities given the loss of power and communications as well as "limited local preparedness for a major hurricane."

This study was not the only one published in the wake of Hurricane Maria that touched upon the storm’s level of devastation.

In the weeks after the storm, Puerto Rican officials said the storm directly caused dozens of deaths, many in landslides or flooding. But, they had long acknowledged that many more people may have died due to indirect effects of the powerful storm.

The findings from the long-awaited study commissioned by the U.S. territory's government estimated far more than both the official death toll and the government's previous interim estimate of 1,400, with the elderly and impoverished being the most affected.

In his tweet, Trump rejected the death toll presented by the George Washington University study and also claimed that Democrats intentionally inflated the death toll to make him “look as bad as possible.”

The 28-year-old Democratic House of Representatives candidate replied to Trump’s tweet, with one of her own: “My grandfather died in the aftermath of the storm. Uncounted. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have similar stories. They have lost children, friends, & family members.”

She ended her tweet with: “Instead of finger-pointing, INVEST in the Marshall Plan for Puerto Rico + just transition to renewable energy.”

Ocasio-Cortez was not the only politician to criticize what Trump had to say regarding Hurricane Maria or how he handled the storm.

Earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed that the state planned to sue Trump and the federal government for “failing” to help Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria.

Additionally, Trump’s tweet denying the death toll was not the first time he caused controversy when it came to Hurricane Maria.

Uphill battles have not only been experienced by those still on the island, but Puerto Ricans who have left the island prior to the storm and after the devastation.

Trump Criticized Over Late Puerto Rico Disaster Response

The Trump administration is fielding sharp criticism from Americans over its response time to Puerto Rico days after Hurricane Maria left the majority of the island without water or electricity. Some say the Trump administration did not respond as quickly to Puerto Rico as quickly as it did to Texas and Florida after both states also suffered heavy damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

(Published Friday, Sept. 29, 2017)

According to NBC News, more than 200,000 Puerto Ricans left the island, at least temporarily. Many of them having settled in Florida, New York and Connecticut.

About 11,000 displaced Puerto Ricans are currently living in New York, Cuomo said.